This wall painting, found within
Canterbury Cathedral dates from around 1480. It was uncovered in 1830 when lime
wash was removed from the wall of the north aisle of the choir. It shows the story of St Eustace, a legendary
Christian martyr who lived in the second century AD. The setting is a series of wooded landscapes
with details of ships, hamlets, churches, castles, monkeys, and a river
meandering to the sea. The story starts
at the bottom, with Eustace on his knees before his quarry, a white stag,
between whose horns can be seen an image of Christ. It ends with Eustace and his family roasted
to death in a large bull placed over a fire.
According to legend, the Roman
general Placidus was out hunting a stag when an image of Jesus on the cross
appeared between the animal's antlers, inspiring him to convert to Christianity
and adopt the name Eustace. He was tested for his faith by a series of
misfortunes, and was later burned alive inside a bronze bull. Though his
historical existence is doubtful, he was a popular saint throughout the Middle
Ages.
‘Excerpt from The Golden Legend
So on a day, as he was on
hunting, he found an herd of harts, among whom he saw one more fair and greater
than the other, which departed from the company and sprang into the thickest of
the forest. And the other knights ran after the other harts, but Placidus
siewed him with all his might, and enforced to take him. And when the hart saw
that he followed with all his power, at the last he went up on a high rock, and
Placidus approaching nigh ... And as he beheld and considered the hart
diligently, he saw between his horns the form of the holy cross shining more
clear than the sun, and the image of Christ, which by the mouth of the hart,
like as sometime Balaam by the ass, sp[o]ke to him, saying: Placidus, wherefore
followest me hither? I am appeared to thee in this beast for the grace of thee.
I am Jesus Christ, [and] I come hither so that by this hart that thou huntest I
may hunt thee. ... I am Jesus Christ that formed heaven and earth, which made
the light to increase, and divided it from darkness, and established time,
days, and hours. Which formed men of the slime of the earth, which appeared on
earth in flesh for the health of the lineage human, which was crucified, dead,
buried, and arose the third day.
And when Placidus heard this, he
fell down again to the earth, and said: I believe, Lord, that thou art he that
made all things, and convertest them that err. And our Lord said to him: If
thou believest, go to the bishop of the city and do thee be baptized. ... And
when he was come home to his house, and had told this thing to his wife in
their bed, she cried: My Lord! and said: And I saw him this night that is
passed, and he said to me: Tomor[row] thou, thy husband, and thy sons, shall
come to me. And now I know that it was Christ. Then they went to the bishop of
Rome at midnight, which baptized them with great joy, and named Placidus,
Eustace, and his wife, Theospis.’[1]
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